Writers in the Tryon Colony: The Early Years

by Michael J. McCue.

Famous poet Sidney Lanier spent his last days in Tryon, North Carolina in 1881. While one of the first creative intellectuals to visit, he was far from the last. Tryon was a popular attraction for both Southerners and Northerners and its accessibility by rail made it a place for intellectuals to enjoy scenic mountains and share intellectual and socially progressive endeavors. Playwright William Gillette, Margaret Warner Morley, Payne Erskine, Madeline Yale Wynne, Edward Waldo Emerson, and John Burroughs are among the authors discussed, who made Tryon a significant locale for cultural and intellectual creativity in the years leading up to World War I.